The Inward Eye

Book excerpt: A central, although unappreciated, dimension of psychoanalysis is the complex oral tradition through which analysts verbally reconstruct their lives and careers. The Inward Eye captures a significant portion of this tradition. In a series of interviews initially conceived as an aspect of their psychoanalytic education, Laurie Raymond and Susan Rosbrow-Reich skillfully elicit the fascinating personal stories of 16 senior analysts. The interviewees, who represent diverse theoretical traditions and cultural backgrounds, share a willingness to reflect candidly on their preanalytic years, their formative influences, their entry into psychoanalysis, and their relationships with mentors and colleagues. Out of this skillfully guided journey into the personal past emerges a vital human context for understanding the theoretical preferences and clinical styles of analysts as diverse as Arthur Valenstein, Joseph and Anne-Marie Sandler, Jacob Arlow, Andre Green, Leo Stone, Leo and Anita Rangell, Edward Weinshel, Merton M. Gill, Albert Solnit, W. Clifford M. Scott, James McLaughlin, Rebecca Solomon, Joyce McDougall, M. Robert Gardner, and Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel. Raymond and Rosbrow-Reich succeed in capturing the essential humanity of all their interview subjects, in showing how their subjects' lives outside the consulting room have shaped, and in turn been shaped by, the analytic identities they assume behind the couch. An engrossing read, wonderfully revelatory of its creative subjects, The Inward Eye is also an invaluable contribution to psychoanalytic history.